revivalproject | All the World In Front of Me

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All the World In Front of Me

WHO: Donnie and you!
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Trying not to roast
WHEN: Mid to late July
WARNINGS: N/A
NOTES: Will match tag format/preference!

I. Evaporate
One might have thought it impossible to kind of miss the Calibrations space but at least it was climate-controlled! The weather's been absolutely hideous, not to mention dry, something Donnie's not used to. It makes things difficult to concentrate on, even with a fan blowing in your face.

Even summers in New York were never this bad. He could almost be fooled into thinking he was stuck in stage one of the flu, except that it had never lasted for days. Then again, given how hard it is to tell the difference for the time of day with how consistent the temperature is holding, he's not sure how long it's been. Going outside seems out of the question, but he still risks it just so he can check on his poor plant experiments out in Blue-04.

This is definitely not an ideal climate for a soft-shelled turtle, but the boy can't not tend to his plants, even if what he can ultimately use is a soak in a nice big pool. He'd thought to lug some water out to the poor, wilting garden but now he's regretting not saving some for him to dunk his head in. He huddles in the meager shade of what's still standing of the ruins it resides in, trying not to cook as he tries to mentally plot the quickest course to finding cover.

II. Rest and Recharge
Thankfully the beach is more tolerable, and the water feels good to stand in. It's not the most ideal place to really relax for all the waves, but it's some respite from the heat at least. He might just go for a swim anyway.

Of course if any of those pesky lobsters get too close and prove to be a nuisance, they're going to see what it's like to be used as a giant croquet ball. They fly pretty far when they're whacked with a rocket-boosted mallet! Head's up!

Time at the beach is only partially for play, however. Donnie does have research to do, after all! He has some things to research and materials to gather in the caverns. And maybe at least it'll be cooler in the depths?

III. When Turtles Fly
Rocket-boots had never been something he'd ever considered making but now he wishes he had because. They. Are. Amazing!

Tony said these babies can break the sound barrier. Donnie is absolutely going to test this out.

As a self-proclaimed adrenaline enthusiast, there has been nothing stopping Donnie from testing their limits. Well, except for the heat, but if you go fast enough and high enough... Huh. What's the range on these anyway? Yet one more thing to find out.

It's both strange and exhilarating using tech that hasn't been built by him, that was made for him- maybe the most bizarre part of it. They're so much cooler than a skateboard- he doesn't need a ramp to do any tricks!

Heights have never been a problem for him and clearly neither have drops as he boosts himself up high and then lets himself freefall some before catching himself in midair and zipping along again. The heat may still be present but at least he doesn't have to walk in it!

Of course once he gets high up enough, he can catch a pretty good glimpse of that new rock formation to the southeast, and it does not look promising...

IV. DiY
((OOC: AKA choose your own adventure/wildcard!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The crystals are pretty firmly embedded into the wall, only barely showing in most places. Donnie arches a brow behind his goggles.

"Heh, you're not going to get those by just tugging on them. These things have been here a pretty long time." He pushes his goggles up again, continuing on. "Come on. There's bigger veins this way. But they're still buried in rock."

Link nods, and - reluctantly - removes his fingers from the rock. Although that’s partly because of the promise of more, further down.

“You mine it?” Link says. He doesn’t have a hammer. Or bombs. Though he does have the Sword…

Donnie laughs. "Well yeah, how else do you expect to get ore and minerals?" As though everyone should know how. Admittedly his knowledge in geology is something he's mostly passingly familiar for his tastes in subjects, but he knows you don't pick crystals like fruit.

"It's a delicate procedure. Since we're dealing with a potentially active power source, I figure it's better to be careful around the actual crystals. The crystals are actually finite in the energy they provide though. Once removed, they slowly lose their charge, not that they do much on their own. Either way, you eventually end up with a paperweight."

"They lose their magic?" Not that that would stop Link from wanting some, of course. He likes a nice pretty rock even if it doesn't have any real use. But knowing that their magic disappears seems...weird.

"Not magic," Donnie says, still doubling down on there being a scientific explanation for things. "But think of it this way; the crystals are like...a physical extension of an internal energy source. So instead of like how the sun flares fire and heat of a sort, this energy possibly seeps out from deep within the planet and crystalizes, or just happens to soak into the crystals- anyway! Point being, you remove it from the source, then of course it's not going to last because it's cut off."

The glowing diminishes as they head farther into the tunnels, but eventually things start glowing again. And it's not just metal, but Donnie's purple markings on his shoulders and legs begin to glow as well.

"They'll charge again if they're brought back here though. But otherwise they just slowly lose power once you take them out of here," Donnie continues, as though things are perfectly normal here.

"Like hot coals," Link says softly. They were hot and glowing as long as they were in the fire. But take them out, and eventually they'll cool.

It just so happened that when it came to the crystals, this cave was the fire.

He would have to tell Zelda about this.

"Yeah, kind of," the turtle blinks, nodding then. That also seems a good way to look at it to some degree.

"We're getting close if you couldn't tell. Not sure if you can feel it too or not. At least I can, but I guess you'd know if you were feeling something different or not."

Link tilts his head to one side, as if listening to something.

He hums, softly. There’s something there, he thinks. Like that tingle of energy, when he drinks an elixir.

(The Sword seems to hum too, very softly. Perhaps she feels it too.)

Donnie starts pointing towards the walls, indicating more prominent signs of crystals. He can't help for a slight bounce in his step. Soaking things in here makes him feel like he's had one too many coffees.

"I've gotten some crystals from here, you can probably see. Samples. There are other places I've dug out some bigger pieces for some better charging rods."

Donnie's not the only one looking at them with boundless curiosity. Once again Link is running his fingers over the crystals...and thinking that he definitely wants to get some.

"...You have a hammer?" he asks. Although he also glances back, at the Sword strapped to his back.

"Well...not exactly. But I've found out I have something better."

Donnie holds up a hand, light the same color as his glowing markings appearing in midair and forming some kind of a motorized handheld drill. He grins, giving it a test rev before eyeing the wall for a good place, lowering his goggles briefly to make sure he's not going to run into any crystal immediately.

Despite the tool looking entirely made of glowing lines and purple light, it still behaves like a physical drill and has no trouble in eating through the rock wall where he applies it.

Link's eyes go wide. He's never seen a device like that before. He's seen drillshafts - even used them - but those were always very manual. Nothing like this.

Faced with this new, loud, and terrifyingly powerful device made of light, you might expect Link to move back. But instead he moves closer, watching Donnie work with impressed fascination.

For as many times as he's been at this, Donnie considers himself more or less an expert. It isn't that hard to figure out where to drill into to loosen up rock, anyway, but he supposes that it helps to have magically imbued goggles that can detect such strange energies so he can tell how close he can get without damaging crystal.

It's not for long as he uses it to clear just enough rock to expose a better amount of crystal. He lets the drill vanish into motes of pixelated light, blowing at the dust as he conjures up a more traditional set of tools, albeit a somewhat fancy looking hammer and chisel.

To Link's eyes, Donnie certainly looks like an expert. Which is why Link doesn't ask if there's anything he can to do help - it's clear that Donnie's already more than got this.

Instead, he just stays quiet and out of the way as Donnie works. Although not too far out of the way. He still wants to see, after all.

And maybe he didn't move back far enough, because he sneezes when Donnie blows at the dust.

"Sorry, this isn't exactly the most thrilling work but it's not something to risk any shortcuts on," Donnie says as he chips away. "At least these veins are visible so we don't have to do any heavy duty work to expose them, but going in too hard could still compromise the tunnel.

Little by little he breaks away more of the rock around the particular bit of crystal he'd selected to clear, having pushed up his goggles a little earlier to relieve his eyes of the extra glare. Juiced up goggles were both helpful and a pain.

Eventually he waves Link over. "Almost got it. You grab it once I give this a good knock, it should come loose then," he says, waiting until Link's in position before he does so.

The apology gets Donnie a blank look. Link doesn't see anything that Donnie should have to apologise for. And if Link were bored, well, he'd go off and do something else.

But he's not bored, and he's happy to help. So he nods and holds out his hands, cupped so that he might catch the crystal as it falls.

Donnie grins at him before he looks back to the rock wall, studying the rest of the crystals that can be seen there. He lets his tools vanish into pixelating heliotrope motes.

"Will that suffice?" He has no idea what Link wants one for, but it had been obvious he'd been interested in it.

What does he want it for? To have it, of course. He might find a use for it later. Maybe. Eventually. But he had to have it in the first place, before he could figure out how it might be useful.

So he nods his head, fingers gently clasping around the crystal as he brings it close. He looks at it, and admires it's colours and the way it glows.

"Thank you," he says.

"No probbles," Donnie says, offering a smile at that. It had been a simple enough extraction.

"If it starts fading, it can recharge when you bring it back to the caves, but that won't be for a good while at least."

Link nods. If all it takes to recharge it was to bring it back every now and then, Link could do that easily enough.

But now Link had a crystal, but Donnie had yet to get any for himself.

"Don't you want some?"

Donnie waves a hand. "I just need a couple more good-sized pieces. But I don't want to grab them all from the same place."

He looks back along the wall, flipping his goggles back down again. Back to this routine.

Link nods. Right, if Donnie wants more - well, Link is going to help.

He starts mirroring Donnie on the other side of the tunnel, checking along himself for other crystals. Although unlike Donnie, he doesn't have any fancy magic goggles. So he's maybe not going to be quite as good at finding them.

There's still signs enough of some crystals that grow out of the rock, and in some places easy to see where they might be in broader chunks. It's just trickier to figure out how deep the rock around them might be.

Noting how quiet Link's gotten, Donnie eventually glances back at him, half expecting that he'd left, perhaps mildly surprised to find that he's inspecting the cavern walls. He shrugs, returning to his own observations.

"If you find anything that looks like it might be at least half the size of your fist, let me know."

Donnie will get used to Link being quiet, eventually. It happens a lot, with him.

But for now Link nods, and returns to inspecting the walls. It's a task he takes seriously, from his expression and the way he methodically searches.

After a while though, Link calls out.

"Maybe here?" he says, hand resting on a patch of wall further down. There's clearly something embedded into the wall - but it's mostly covered up by rock and stone, and Link can't tell just how large it is by eye alone.

"Hm?"

Donnie turns, stepping away from his side of the tunnel to walk over to where Link is. He'd been taking a break from his goggles, so now he pulls them down again, studying the spot that's pointed out.

"Ooh, good eye. This spot looks promising. It's...slightly deeper than the last one but not impossible for an extraction."

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